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Scientists Investigate Cause of 'Singing Dunes'

Scientists Investigate Cause of 'Singing Dunes'

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (21) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- In more than 30 locations around the world, the phenomenon of singing sand dunes has intrigued explorers, tourists, and scientists. When an avalanche occurs or even when the sand is pushed ...


The Physics of Pizza Tossing

The Physics of Pizza Tossing

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 09, 2009 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (13) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- As dough flies through the air, transforming from a ball into a disk in the chef’s experienced hands, pizza tossing can definitely be thought of as an art. But, as a recent study shows, pizza ...


Physicists Investigate Controversy over Room-Temperature Ice

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 05, 2008 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (39) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- By confining water in nano-sized spaces, physicists from Leiden University in the Netherlands have turned water into ice at room temperature. While it’s not the first time scientists have created room-temperature ...


Carbon Nanotube Windmills Powered by 'Electron Wind'

Carbon Nanotube Windmills Powered by 'Electron Wind'

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jul 08, 2008 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (65) | comments 12

Theoretical physicists from Lancaster University in the UK have designed a nanomotor that operates by a novel mechanism: an electron wind.


Another piece in the dark matter puzzle

Another piece in the dark matter puzzle

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 05, 2007 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (73) | comments 11

Most scientists agree that most of the matter in the universe is dark. Dark matter, which is undetectable through direct observation, can only be inferred because of its effects on the matter that we can see.


Experiment to Clarify Ancient Physics Discovery Yields More Questions

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 28, 2007 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (84) | comments 0

In approximately 600 B.C., the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletos discovered that rubbing certain materials together, such as amber and wool, can cause both to become electrically charged, one positive and one negative. ...


Tactile sensor acts as a human finger in minimally invasive surgery

Tactile sensor acts as a human finger in minimally invasive surgery

Technology / Engineering

created Jun 27, 2007 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (28) | comments 0

Researchers have designed a millimeter-sized sensor that has many of the tactile abilities of a human finger: it can sense the magnitude and the position of an applied force, slippage of a grasping tool, and ...


Microswimmer propels itself with near-zero friction

Physics / General Physics

created Jun 04, 2007 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (47) | comments 0

Scientists have found that a very slender micro-sized swimmer can propel itself without friction by surface treadmilling. The microswimmer moves by generating backward surface motion at the front end of itself, which is then ...


Nanobubbles exist, and are more stable than previously thought

Nanobubbles exist, and are more stable than previously thought

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Apr 02, 2007 | popularity 4 / 5 (42) | comments 0

When William Ducker, a professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia started experiments on so-called nanobubbles that form as a gas state on the boundary between liquid and gas, he fully expected to ...


Can expert reasoning be taught?

Can expert reasoning be taught?

Other Sciences / Other

created Feb 09, 2007 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (63) | comments 0

In addition to mastering a large body of knowledge, successful researchers must acquire a host of high-level cognitive skills: critical thinking, "framing" a problem, ongoing evaluation of the solution as it ...


Dark Energy And The Inverse Square Law

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 25, 2007 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (61) | comments 0

“Newton’s inverse-square law has been around for a while,” Daniel Kapner tells PhysOrg.com. “But, by testing this law, we’re looking for new physics.” The new physics Kapner and his colleagues are looking for in their recent ...


Superconductor magnet heat shield being developed

Superconductor magnet spacecraft heat shield being developed

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 26, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (44) | comments 28

(PhysOrg.com) -- European space agencies and an aerospace giant are developing a new re-entry heat shield that will use superconductor magnets to generate a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the superhot ...


train

Tiny Train Model May be World's Smallest (w/ Video)

Technology / Engineering

created Oct 26, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (13) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- David Smith, who has been building model railroads since 1965, has always had a preference for the smaller scale train models. His most recent project is a five-car train that runs through ...


Giving cockroaches the slip

Giving cockroaches the slip (w/ Video)

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (13) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- A breakthrough by scientists at Cambridge University may terminate the threat of termites, cockroaches and other pests such as ants and locusts - responsible for billions of pounds worth of ...


Springs built from nanotubes could provide big power storage potential

Springs built from nanotubes could provide big power storage potential

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 21, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (15) | comments 10

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research by MIT scientists suggests that carbon nanotubes -- tube-shaped molecules of pure carbon -- could be formed into tiny springs capable of storing as much energy, pound for pound, ...